Well I never, Rafa Benitez could yet discover what vitriol his Newcastle United successor Steve Bruce has had to endure since setting foot inside SJP.
Because in an ironic twist Rafa who was adored on Tyneside could be walking into a wholly different situation should he be appointed at Everton where the vast majority of fans want him like the plague.
Being a highly successful manager with bitter rivals Liverpool across Stanley Park winning them the Champions League no less hardly endears him to the blue half of the city.
READ MORE: Kevin Keegan's classy message to Sir Alex
However calling Everton "a small club" enraged them beyond breaking point so his residency within Goodison would be contentious in the extreme.
Like Brucie the new manager would find it exceptionally hard if not impossible to turn a tide flowing unerringly in one direction. Every minor rick made would be seized upon and blown into a full scale crisis.
Mind you the uprising against Bruce was not, as some outsiders suggest, because he once managed Sunderland but because of what was perceived as a massively underwhelming CV. Something which certainly does not burden Benitez.
Nevertheless he is up against the sort of backlash which would penetrate the skin of a rhino - and Rafa is no fragile object when the blowtorch is turned in his direction. Ask Chelsea fans.
It has been suggested by Everton legend Neville Southall that another who once served in the black and white of Newcastle would be a much more popular choice. Dismissing Benitez for the obvious reasons Southall says he would prefer big Duncan Ferguson. I bet a few Toffees feel exactly the same way.
There are some fits that fit and some that most certainly do not. Like Big Dunc at Everton, Kevin Keegan was a fan favourite at Newcastle but on t'other hand Alan Shearer should never manage Sunderland or Peter Reid Newcastle. Neil Lennon is not made for Glasgow Rangers, Roy Keane for Man City, Sir Alex Ferguson for England....or Benitez for Everton judging by current reaction.
Even Ole Big 'Ead Brian Clough came up short at Leeds United!
Fan power ought never to be underestimated. It can be an uplifting thing as it was for Rafa at Newcastle or a destructive power as Bruce has found out.
I know Everton's majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, suitably impressed with our one-time man, would give Rafa a much bigger budget than he had here where he regularly clashed with Mike Ashley but, hey, the Toon supporters adored you big man.
You were much better off walking the Tyne than you would ever be in a new Merseyside base across the great divide even if geographically it suited the family.
Make another mistake at your peril Rafa. Remember China was one.
By the way talking of managers being good signings or not the same applies to players.
When Kevin Keegan conned Sir John Hall about Peter Beardsley's age to bring him back to Newcastle while building the Entertainers it was a shrewd and clever ploy.
KK knew that Beardo was still the master craftsman of old.
However some managers remember the player that was rather than the one today. Kenny Dalglish made that mistake when signing Ian Rush and John Barnes for United.
All Dalglish's memory eye saw were the two magnificent superstars he had performed alongside at Liverpool but by now they were old and playing on nothing but a fading memory.
I was reminded of that when newly promoted Watford signed former Spurs and England left-back Danny Rose on a two year contract.
That's the sort of signing that will ensure Watford head straight back from whence they came!
We saw Rose at close quarters during his spell on loan at SJP in the second half of the 2019-20 season.
Once a vibrant performer, if you watched closely wingers often caught out Rose defensively and he cost his side goals. Yesterday's man I'm afraid.
Worse, since then he has spent a full season doing absolutely nothing at Tottenham never playing as his contract run down. Maybe he is only 30 but his time centre stage is up.
There are two major eroding components when judging a player - age and injury.
Rose to Watford is the same sort of signing as Andy Carroll to Newcastle. Recruited on reputation rather than current ability.
Carroll was once magnificent but was sold to the Geordie people as the player he was at Newcastle before injury ravaged him - all blood and thunder, towering headers and flying elbows. A walking air raid. Fearsome.
Outcome of the misconception: two seasons here, one Premier League goal, and spelks in the backside from sitting on the subs' bench.
What we do not want up here this summer are signings like Carroll and Rose. They rarely if ever work.
